Category Archives: family

Life via iPhone

Apparently I never mastered the whole “blogging while on maternity leave” thing. I’d either feel bad I was ignoring Rylee or Andy or it’d be nap time for the girls and I’d either catch a few Zzz’s myself or look around at my disaster of a house a feel the sudden urge to scrub all the things. Or you know, load the dishwasher at least.

Don’t fret. This is my last week of maternity leave. Yep, 6 weeks has nearly already passed and I’m headed back to work on Tuesday the 4th. September is part time, then I’m back full time at the beginning of October.

I’m ready, but not. If that makes any sense at all.

While it seems nearly impossible to bust out my laptop for some legit blogging, I always have my phone handy so while 1 kid naps and the other eats I thought I’d give a quick update…

Ry heads back to school next week. She has a new teacher that we met in Saturday. She is really looking forward to being back at school! She’s still struggling with her sassy attitude. Well, ok she has no problem with it. I’m the one struggling.

Reese will be 6 weeks on Thursday. Crazy. She’s doing ok sleeping at night. Normally only waking once around 3 AM then up again around 5:30. I use the term “normally” loosely. Last night she had me up 3 times.

Her favorite place in the whole house is her changing table. She’s completely content just to lie there for minutes at a time.

She’s been smiling for a couple of weeks now. And she’s starting to coo a little bit now too.

I swear her eye lashes grow longer every day. Her hair is starting to lighten up a bit. It may end up being more auburn than we originally thought it would be.

She is finally big enough for cloth diapers which makes my wallet happy. Though today I’ve been lazy and just used disposables. But I’m not complaining at all because she has totally wrecked almost every diaper shes had on today.

She LOVES hanging out in our Ergo baby carrier. That thing is a magic worker! I swear I don’t know how people with more than one kid can get by without baby wearing. I wear her at the grocery store. I wear her outside while Ry is playing. I wear her around the house. Super convenient.

Ry still thinks her baby sis is the cats pajamas. Always wanting to be all up in her business. Always wanting to hold her. Always wanting to get up from the dinner table to go check on her. She does get kinda pissy if Reese cries too loud during her cartoon time though.

That’s all the update time I have for now. Hopefully once I’m back at work we’ll be in a bit more of a routine and I’ll be back to my old self.

Of course no update post would be complete without photos…

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Two Weeks and One Day

Hard to believe it’s already been over two weeks since we’ve become a family if four.

We’ve all settled in nicely. Long stints of sleep are still hard to come by but there’s something about this girl that makes it all worth it. Oh and the midday naps I take don’t hurt either.

Reese is a pretty good baby. Squeaky as all get out, but good. She settled pretty easily into an eating every 3 hours routine, give or take about a half hour. She nurses like a champ. Loves to sleep on your chest. She hates being cold. And completely wrecks her drawers on occasion.

Rylee is loving being a big sister more often than not. If Reese is crying, Ry is right there trying to console her. She loves to pick out Reese’s outfits and on occasion likes to help change her diaper. She’s still mastering the “be careful around your sister” thing. Andy & I have mini heart attacks on the regular.

Reese had her 2 week check-up this morning. She’s already gained a pound since birth putting her up to 8 lbs, 4 oz (50th percentile) and grown an inch to 21″ long (75th percentile). Tall and skinny. Weird

As we continue to settle into a routine, and get more than 1.5 hours of sleep at a time, I’ll be better about blogging. I have so much to share! But for now, you’ll have to settle for intermittent blog posts filled with ridiculously cute photos courtesy of my iPhone.

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Life. Lately.

I’m sitting here with the sounds of Sid the Science Kid and the steady drone of the baby swing in the background. I’ve got a snuggly 4 year old keeping my left side warm. A towel that’s been wrapped in my hair for about an hour too long.

And a heart that is overflowing.

These last few days home have all been a blur. As with any brand new baby, there’s been a flurry of feedings and diaper changes. Semi-sleepless nights and naps in the day. Between all that, I’m trying to balance my time with Rylee, making sure she knows I still love her as much as always. We’ve read books together, made a couple of dinners together. We have plans to polish our toe nails during a Baby Sister naptime this week.

After things settle down a bit/we work into our routine as a family of four, I’ll share Reese’s birth story and some other fun stuff.

For now, I’ll leave you with these…

P.S. I haven’t been updating facebook as much lately, but you can follow me on instagram for the latest and greatest pics of my girls…MY GIRLS! @LilMissRysMama

P.P.S. I started this post at about 10 AM…it’s now almost 1 PM…and this is my new reality.

Impromptu Blog Break

Uhhh…herro Friday. Where’d you come from?

Between only working 2 days this week and the holiday and throw in some family adventure for good measure, there’s been no time for blogging, I guess.

Nope, no baby yet. Doctor appointment yesterday went well. Nothing new to report. I have a “state of the cervix” appointment next week.

4th of July was low-key, but a kick. In Rice Fam tradition we spent the afternoon and evening at the same BBQ we’ve gone to for the last umpteen years. In years past, we’ve only ever made it through about 10 minutes of fireworks because Rylee didn’t like the noise. This year, we used Ry’s shooting ear muffs for the fireworks and I’m happy to report for the first year ever we were able to stay for all of the fireworks!

We knocked a couple more items off of the Big Sister Bucket List.

I’ve got loads to blog about, but for now I’ve got an iced coffee sitting next to me and an extra long weekend to enjoy with my little family of 3. For now I will just go ahead and leave you with this…

Wonderings…

{Not to be confused with wanderings…I’m not doing too much of any wandering lately}

These days I catch myself in almost a trance-like state, day dreaming and wondering…

What will labor be like this time?…What will she look like?…Will she look identical to her big sister the way my sisters and I look so much alike?…Will she have any hair?…Will it be red? What are the chances?…What color will her eyes be? Blue like her dad and sisters or hazel like mine? …Will she be a champion sleeper like her sister?…Will she love baths?…What will her cry sound like?…Will she like to ride in the car?… Will she like to be swaddled?…What will her favorite foods be?…What will end up being her lovey?…Will she be into sports?…Will she be a daddy’s girl?…Will Rylee adore her like I think/hope she will?…Will she adore her big sister?

Just a few more weeks until we find out, little one.

I can’t wait to meet you!